F1 Manager by Ea Sports

Just got this game off eBay - took a while to install it and get it working but finally done it.

From what I've read the game itself is a disappointment, which is a shame - looking at it, from the 3D races to the other details, it's such a shame that EA didn't take the project any further, and essentially released the actual game when it was in a beta stage. It has/had so much promise, and EA could really have made an F1 Management game to last the ages. Hopefully another big company will take up the mantle of releasing a good and proper F1 Management game some time in the future to rival Football Manager at the top of the genre. At the minute we have an extremely old Grand Prix World, an unfinished F1 Manager, and a still-borne GPRM which won't have anywhere near the graphic capabilities of F1 Manager or even GPW, albeit it will have much more detailed gameplay as a whole.

It's such a gap in the market that could be exploited if a game was done properly

Just got this game off eBay - took a while to install it and get it working but finally done it.

From what I've read the game itself is a disappointment, which is a shame - looking at it, from the 3D races to the other details, it's such a shame that EA didn't take the project any further, and essentially released the actual game when it was in a beta stage. It has/had so much promise, and EA could really have made an F1 Management game to last the ages. Hopefully another big company will take up the mantle of releasing a good and proper F1 Management game some time in the future to rival Football Manager at the top of the genre. At the minute we have an extremely old Grand Prix World, an unfinished F1 Manager, and a still-borne GPRM which won't have anywhere near the graphic capabilities of F1 Manager or even GPW, albeit it will have much more detailed gameplay as a whole.

It's such a gap in the market that could be exploited if a game was done properly

Gosh I remember picking that game up (thankfully very cheap) roughly ten years ago and being very very disappointed! The box had made it look so good......

I hope you are right about the gap in the market - there is one potential customer for a great motor sport management game typing here anyway! I wouldn't be the biggest fan of football but I do play the Football Manager series, and the level of detail and general addictiveness is top notch! The 'Cricket Coach' series is also one I rate highly. And as you say we are stuck with an old Grand Prix World.....

Personally I would really like to see a game that takes on board some lessons from a successful game like Football Manager. One thing that has irked me with previous motor sport management series is that they were a lot weaker than Football Manager in areas that would really add longevity, and therefore more playablity and excitement, to the game. Managing a Formula One team and being able to poach quick drivers from rival teams is very good, but where were the options to pluck outstanding young talent from junior formulae, to send 'scouts' to junior series meetings or to set up a Red Bull like junior driver programme? A well rounded management game would really need GP2, GP3, Formula 3, Superleague et al running as well, at least in the background generating results, to make driver scouting and hiring really immersive. It would also encorage you to play a single game longer as young drivers you knew from GP2 etc joined Formula One, instead of the same drivers switching about or made up people (of course a la Football Manager this would have to happen eventually, but if you had a decent set of junior formulae in the game it would take a while!).

And on the subject of other series, a thing which the Formula One dominated management games I have played miss is the equivalent of Football Manager's capacity to allow you to take a lower league team and drag it up the divisions. Wouldn't a game where you started as, say a Formula Renault or Formula 3 team, and tried to beg borrow or steal all the way to Formula One be really fun? And it would add a lot of layers to the game - you might find chasing the Formula One dream impossible, but you could still try to be the next Trevor Carlin and create a network of sub teams racing different series and generating cash and success.

Some pretty big demands, but it would be a game I would pay top price for.....like you say, I hope there is the market out there and someone will exploit it!

Wow, F1 Manager takes me back a bit! 1999 season isn't it if I remember properly? Always used to be Ferrari to try and keep them ahead of McLaren's. Good fun back then! I think the graphics were okay for the time, but nothing mindblowing.

Grand Prix World on the other hand just had a driver tracker map if I recall with the race being 'simulated'. That was good fun too, paying for new driver parts, renewing driver contracts (or failing to in more than one case!) and trying to avoid going under. The only downside is that the game crashed regularly on one of my old PC's, but it was good fun all those years ago. Both games must have gone off to some charity shop back then.

Had this game and GPW too. Grand Prix World was much better imo, though both had their pros and cons. What a shame we haven't got any proper F1 manager simulations lately. Would love Football Manager style F1/autosport manager game with similar user interface and database

Would much rather play a GPW type game tbh, just playing on my own for a couple of hours rather than on whatever basis the website decides (probably similar to Batracer) and remembering to go back at certain times for results, sessions to run etc.